Trucks carry a bulk of the goods within the United States. Driver's have a difficult lifestyle in which they spend much of their time within the cab and sleeper of their over the road tractor trailers. They must comply with federal regulations in the United States that limit the amount of time behind the wheel as well as boredom and discomfort living life within the walls of what has been likened to a small mobile studio apartment. For employers that employ over the road drivers, retention has become a challenge. The general method of moving goods with trucks is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. The results of a survey performed by the inventors of this patent show that during their off-hours, truckers spend an average of 3.6 hours in truck awake. Of these hours, they spend about one hour preparing food, nearly an hour socializing with friends inside their trucks, and about 2.5 hours entertaining themselves with television or books. This invention and the project that it sprang from is intended to:    Create a space that drivers will be proud to show to other drivers,    Allow for 3–5 truckers to socialize together in the truck comfortably,    Create a space for food preparation and storage specific to the eating habits of truckers,    Create a bright and entertaining environment,    Give drivers a sense of separation between work and leisure,    Give drivers a way to isolate their sleeping space from their living space, and    Optimize the limited amount of space in a sleeper for storage.
Research pointed heavily towards providing truck drivers with a place to lounge comfortably, and utilizing the lower bunk space for the dual purpose of seating and sleeping is the most efficient way to achieve this. It was very important that the transition from seating to sleeping and back be as quick and effortless as possible. Any amount of extra effort on the driver's would most likely lead to underutilization of the feature. This criterion led us to the combination jackknife bed and couch for a mobile vehicle of this invention. The invention focuses on providing mobile vehicle furniture that may be a comfortable couch when the driver is socializing. The combination bed and couch is converted into the socializing truck furnishing from a bed fully made up with sheets, blankets, and pillow without the sheets and bedding material being removed.
Jackknife beds have been used in the Recreation Vehicle (RV) industry in the past because of their ease of use. The unit is transformed from bed to sofa and back in seconds. One only needs to lift under the seat and pull out, and the sofa drops into a bed. Returning it to a sofa is just as easy. Though its use is simple, it has had two major flaws:    When pulled out the bed has a gap running down the middle of the sleeping surface.    The bedding has to be made and put away every time it is transitioned from sofa to bed or bed to sofa.These flaws led to innovation that differentiates the combination jackknife bed and couch solution of this invention from other solutions currently on the market through two defining features:    Keeps sheets made    Seamless sleeping surfaceThese features are made possible by folding the bed in half and keeping it in the backrest.